Ultras Ahlawy member released

Al-Ahly supporters stoke up the atmosphere before a game.(AFP File Photo)

Ultras Ahlawy member Ahmed Idrees was released from Rod Al-Farag Police Station on Monday night, according to a statement by the Al-Ahly SC supporting group.

“The attempts to change the truth of what happened in Port Said have failed, and always will; the 74 martyrs have friends who will fight for their rights [until they die],” the group said.

The total number of group member causalities since January 2011 amounts to 74, 72 of whom were involved in what is commonly known as the “Port Said massacre”.

Idrees was arrestedfrom his house by police early Monday morning following a complaint filed in March 2012 by Port Said lawyer Ashraf Al-Ezaby, accusing him of assaulting Al-Masry SC fans on 1 February 2012. The group said that the arrest is part of a usual security campaign which occurs before any revolutionary event, “aiming at intimidating [the people] and the return of the oppressive state”.

Al-Ezaby, a member of the defendants’ defence team, said on Monday that his complaint is included in the Port Said Prosecution investigations regarding the case.

72 supporters of Al-Ahly SC were killed at the final whistle of the match after Al-Masry SC fans stormed the pitch, attacking players and fans. Those who died had been stabbed, beaten, crushed by the stampede or thrown off the upper tier of the stadium seating.

In total, there were 73 defendants in the case, who were sentenced on two separate occasions. The first sentence was delivered in January 2013, in which 21 people were sentenced to death. The second verdict was handed in March 2013, when the 21 death sentences were ratified; five received life sentences, 10 were handed 15 year sentences, two received five years and one man received a year.

In December the Court of Cassation postponed the retrial of 48 of the defendants until 6 February.